Leaked BlackBerry Roadmap Shows Off What’s To Come

BlackBerry has taken a slow and steady release approach so far this year, with the Z10 and Q10 the only devices (that we know of) coming out in 2013. We’ve heard rumblings of other BlackBerry 10 handsets possibly coming out at some point in the next several months but, of course, nothing has been officially unveiled—the Z10 is still rolling out to areas of the world after all. But according to a leaked road map, we could see a BB10 tablet as soon as early fall, with another phablet-type handset planned for the holiday season.

Leaked by Twitter account @BB10Leaks, the roadmap shows off BlackBerry’s alleged plans for the next year, culminating in a QWERTY device with a more oblong screen (compared to the traditional square design of the Q10). But before that, in 2013, are two devices that will surely excite BlackBerry fans. If this roadmap is indeed real, the company’s portfolio will shape up quite nicely.

First up is the B10, which looks like a Nexus 10-type tablet (widescreen aspect ratio) that will go up against the bigger mobile devices in the 9/10/11-inch range. According to the roadmap, the device will hit sometime during fall, early enough to get the BlackBerry hive stirring heading into the holidays.

The next big notable device looks to be the U10, which looks like BlackBerry’s version of the phablet. With devices in the Android market edging toward the super phone frontier, the leaked roadmap certainly reflects a sound strategy; if BlackBerry wants to appeal to the most fervent tech enthusiast, the Z10/Q10 combo might not be enough—something bigger and more badass needs to be inbound.

BlackBerry is still slowly rolling out its latest efforts, and still has plenty of work to do as it looks to rebound from floundering marketshare. The summer months will be all about the Z10 and Q10, but the later months of 2013 will really ramp things up for the BB10 platform.